A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ORNITHOIiOGY OF NEPAL. 209 



Valley on the north-west. There are two roads over Ek Danta ; 

 one, to the left, runs across the highest part of the hill ; the 

 other, to the rights follows the gorge of the Cbitlang stream, 

 and is a very narrow path, cut in the steep hrow of the hill, 

 some hundreds of feet immediately above the river. The side 

 of the gorge, opposite to the road, is also very steep, and is well 

 clothed with vegetation, while the Ek Danta side is com- 

 paratively bare ; at one point the stream falls in a fine cascade. 

 Having cleared the Ek Danta hill we enter a long valley 

 which runs down from the Chandragiri Ridge between two low 

 spurs ; the sides of the valley are undulating and grassy, the 

 hill-slope having a northern exposure being pretty thickly 

 grown with bush jungle. This is the valley of Chitlang ; from 

 its highest part at the south base of Chandragiri, a small stream 

 runs down from that mountain along the centre of the valley, 

 which curves gradually southwards. Chitlang is higher than 

 the Nepal Valley, and is well cultivated ; it is only at the head 

 of the valley, where the Chandragiri Ridge blocks it to the north, 

 that the hills are well wooded. 



From Chitlang there is an easy ascent to the Pass over the 

 Chandragiri Ridge ; and through an opening of the forest which 

 covers the crest of this ridge, we obtain a fine view of the 

 valley of Nepal which lies immediately below. 



As seen from Chandragiri the valley appears to be a level 

 plain, irregularly oval in shape, and completely girt round 

 with mountains ; and if our view be obtained about the middle 

 of July say, the plain is covered with a brilliant green carpet- 

 ing of rice fields. 



The populousness of this plain in the heart of the mountains 

 is at once attested by the great number of red brick houses 

 dotted over its surface : besides the three cities of Kathmandu 

 (with its finely-shaped white monument, which forms a striking, 

 but not an appropriate, feature in the landscape), Patan, an4 

 Bhatgaon, there are villages, temples, and homesteads innume- 

 rable. The Nepal Valley has been aptly termed a miniature of 

 Kashmir ; for the purpose of our present bird's-eye view its 

 small size is all in its favour, for we are enabled to take in all 

 the details of a complete picture ; and the scene from the top 

 of Chandragiri is superior to the hazy view obtained of the 

 Kashmir Valley from the Banihal or Baramulla hills. 



The descent from Chandragiri to the valley is very steep and 

 rough, the path in parts running down the rock-strewn bed of 

 an old torrent. The whole slope is densely covered with most 

 luxuriant forest. At the base of the ridge stands the village 

 of Tbankot, on a long gently sloping alluvial fan. The distance 

 from Marhhu to Thankot is about nine miles by road. From 



